ATHENS — This Georgia-Alabama game isn’t like most in recent memory.
Nick Saban is no longer on the opposing sideline, with Kalen DeBoer stepping in. This will be the first time Smart has faced off against DeBoer.
Smart took time talking about the Alabama program where he previously coached on Monday. Below is a full transcript of his remarks as Georgia looks ahead to Saturday’s game against Alabama.
On Alabama’s change from a schematic standpoint…
I mean, they’re different defensively, for sure. Obviously, the offensive staff and defensive staff changed, but there’s remnants because the quarterback’s the same, so you keep some things the same with them. And most of college football is doing something similar, so there’s some similarities into that. Obviously, the history there, Kalen’s history, that’s at Washington and then defensively, history Kane has and what they’ve done this year as well, it’s different.
On insight Travaris Robinson has on this Alabama team…
Well, he’s a really good coach, he’s a really good recruiter, he’s a great person. So he’s brought a lot of energy, enthusiasm, confidence day-to-day in our players. He’s a good football coach so we’re very fortunate to have him, and he’s got a lot of knowledge.
As far as pertaining to them, I mean he really hasn’t been part of their staff. So like intricacies into what they do defensively or offensively, not a lot there. I mean, he knows some of their players, but we know a lot of their players too, because we recruited a lot of them. And I mean, Donte was out with some of them out in California. So it’s not a lot to speak of, a lot of things that you hang your hat on. You’re worried about how we play, not particulars about their players.
On if it’ll be strange with Nick Saban not on the Alabama sideline…
No, I don’t expect it to be strange. I mean, that’s just the normal course of progression. I think it’s strange going back there, sometimes because I lived there and our kids were born there and lived there for nine years and had such great experiences there. But we had that in COVID, it was more strange then because of the stands.
On the jump in Jalen Milroe’s game since last meeting…
Yeah, it’s considerable jump as a just natural pocket passer. You see him make more throws now that are rhythm throws, on time throws, RPO throws. You can tell he’s become more comfortable with those things. Still some of his best and most exciting plays are when things break down or when he runs the ball by design, either one is very dangerous. But you can see him as a deep ball passer, the vertical passing game, the shots, the rhythm throws, the outs, the timing throws, the RPO throws, he’s improved immensely at that part of his game, but he’s always been good at the athletic part of the game.
On nostalgia going back to Tuscaloosa…
Less now, I mean, it’s just, you move on. I think the last time we went, it was four or five years from the time we had lived there. It’s so weird when you play there, because you’re in and out. You’re there and then you’re gone. So it’s just different, but you really focus on the players, what they have to do, what we have to do to execute. It takes away from that thing. There’s a lot of people that are still there in the organization that I’m close with and have a lot of respect for, but that’s the case in a lot of these places in the SEC.
On if he looks back at last year’s game when it comes to Jalen Milroe…
“Do you look at last year’s game? Well, you always look at things like that from a personnel standpoint, matchup. You see guys in there, that game, our game, that overlap. But with him, the challenges are immense, because he’s an incredible football player. There is no design to a play that you can draw up and then say, well, I’m pretty sure this is gonna happen on this play with him.
Because you don’t know what’s gonna happen. I mean, sometimes the worst thing you can do is cover everybody with him. And sometimes the best thing you can do is cover everybody.
It just depends. Are you capable of getting him down on the ground and tackling him at times? What matchups do you have? He is as different a football player in college football as I’ve played against him in a long time, because people think he’s just a runner, and that’s not the case. He has a tremendous arm and can do things with his arm that other people can’t. He can reach spots on the field and get it there faster than you can break on it, better than most arm talent people. So it’s a tremendous challenge to defend a guy like him.”
On the value of bye week for Carson and Mike Bobo…
“The value for Coach Bobo and Carson, I don’t, I mean, I think it’s relative because they had an off with two. So it’s not like you’re gonna make these incredible jumps because of a bye week. What do you do in the bye week? You look back at yourself. You look back and you do quality control and you try to find tendency breakers. You try to find new wrinkles. You try to really get better at blocking and tackling, which is what football is. And that’s what we focused on was that, how do we get better as an entire team, even the younger part of your team? So that was the focus of the bye week.”
On the Georgia linebacker play…
“In terms of our linebacker core, I think Smael is closer to healthy. I think this time last year, he was having to play with a really hurt foot, and he was pushing through. And he pushed through in the SEC Championship game with a significant injury. And I don’t know if he’s 100%, but he’s much closer. I mean, he’s come off a significant surgery and playing much better. Two younger guys are a little bit older, a little more experienced. But still, those guys, when I look at Raylen (Wilson) and CJ (Allen), they’re relatively young players, and they’re in their second year. They got to play a lot more last year than typically they would. And then Jalon’s playing as well, multiple positions. But those four guys are all playing good.
On how Mykel Williams is and if he’s optimistic he’ll be able to play...
“I’m hopeful. We’ll see. He didn’t do much last week. He got a lot of rehab Friday and Sunday and was able to run and do some things Friday and Sunday, which is positive. But haven’t been out to practice today, and we’ll see how today goes.”
On if he went back and rewatched the SEC title game this offseason...
“I don’t watch the games in the offseason. We watch the games after it. We go through and critique those and then try to get better at the tendencies and the things we have to. We look at future opponents and Alabama was a future opponent, but it wasn’t the same staff as it was prior to that.
On how Warren Brinson and Jordan Hall are doing...
“Warren Brinson practiced last week at the end of the week, and we’re hopeful to get Jordan Hall back, who’s been working really hard, tirelessly, doing rehab, and then busting his butt all weekend. So we’ll see what he’s at today.”
On trying to limit Alabama’s explosive plays...
“Well, you do your job. I mean, they’ve got explosive plays that are, what would you call, off-schedule explosive plays, and they’ve got on-schedule explosive plays. So when you have a chance at both those, it just increases your opportunity, and their explosives are super explosive. They’re not talking about the 15-20 variety; they’re talking about the 50-60-70 variety. They’ve got some really good skill players out on the perimeter that are explosive. They’ve got a quarterback that defines explosive, and they’ve got good backs, so when you’ve got good football players and weapons that they have out on the perimeter, it can be explosive. Our job is to try to prevent those, not give up big plays, and a lot of that starts with how well we play around the quarterback.”
On if Ryan Williams fits among the elite WRs who have played at Alabama...
“Yeah, he’s in the same line with the guys they’ve had in the past. Super quick, talented, confident with the ball, great ball skills, great quickness. He’s a track athlete that was elite as a junior, and then he comes out and he’s already performing at a high level. I don’t think that there’s a lot of anxiety or nerves for him. He’s not one of these guys that the moment’s too big for him. He naturally jumped right in and has made plays in every game. They have a lot of really good skill players out of the perimeter, and I think that Jalen does a good job of using his skillset to get them the ball.
On what stands out to you about Alabama’s defense...
“They play really hard. They’ve got guys flying to the ball, punching at the ball, getting the ball out, disrupting the quarterbacks. They’ve been really disruptive in terms of things up front they do to create issues, batting balls, and they’re physical. I mean, they’re physical and fast. When you look at them, they have a depth in their front that they’re able to play a lot of guys with size that are hard to move. So they do a really good job defensively and they’re multiple. They’ve got split safety and single high looks. They do a good job changing it up.”
On coaching against an Alabama team Nick Saban’s not coaching...
“Well, he recruited a lot of them, and they’re good players. I think anytime you go against a really good team that’s a powerhouse in college football, that it’s a challenge. And I really look at it like this is a hell of an opportunity for our kids, our program, national stage, and we’re on the national stage a lot. We’ve been one the national stage a lot, especially the last three to four years. So it’s the reason kids wanna come to Georgia. They say, I wanna play in games like that. Most viewed game two weeks ago Saturday night was our game. It’s gonna probably be that way this Saturday night. When you start looking at it, kids wanna have an opportunity to play in those type games. And that’s, we’re gonna have more of them after this. So it’s a great opportunity to play on the national stage. And that’s what we built our program on is playing tough opponents.”
On how similar game will be to last year’s game plan...
“Yeah, I don’t know that. I mean, I don’t know their game plan. So I don’t know how similar it’ll be or different it’ll be. I mean, we’re a different team. They’re a different team. They’re a different staff. We’re a similar staff. So I can’t compare last year’s game to this year’s game.”
On leadership since the SEC Championship loss last season...
“Well, I think each one has a different impact. There’s guys in the locker room, upset. And everybody handles that in different ways. I think the motivation it gives to guys to wanna come back and have an opportunity to win an SEC Championship, which this group didn’t do last year, and they have a chance to do that. It doesn’t all hinge on this game, but that game did. And I certainly think that a lot of our guys remember it, and they wanna use that as motivation, where the motivation should be to play your best and defeat your opponent in a big stage on the road in the SEC, which is always a challenge. And it’s really about the preparation we do today in these next three to four days.”
On Nick Saban and his role on TV…
“He’s extremely thorough and he enjoys what he does. I’m thrilled that he gets an opportunity to do what he wants to do and be with who he wants to be with within his family and enjoy that. I’m really happy he’s still part of college football because he makes college football better.”
On the team’s slow starts…
“Well, I wouldn’t say that we’ve started fast. I would say that everybody wants to start fast, but sometimes it’s like that. And sometimes there’s no rhyme and reason, and then sometimes there’s things you do that you could do better, you could execute better. Sometimes they just beat you, and they just whip you. And it’s gone both ways, offensively and defensively. We’ve had drives defensively that we gave up too much field position and too many consecutive third downs that we didn’t get off the field that maybe just made our offense start backed up. But it hasn’t been perfect, but we have shown resiliency, and that’s a trait that I would probably trade, outside of perfect, I would trade a lot of traits for resiliency.”
On if there’s anything they do to avoid “chasing ghosts” this week…
“No, I mean, I don’t think we chase the past at all. I think that you watch the tape, two different teams. We’re focused on what we can do to be our best this week. The ghost we’re chasing is past performances this year, and what we can do to clean that up, and how we can be more efficient. I wouldn’t say it’s anything to do with them.”
On reckless driving arrests…
“Yeah, I’m terribly disappointed, and something that we don’t stand for.”
On what winning this game would mean…
“It’d mean we’ve got to get ready for Auburn. I mean, it’s really that simple, guys. It’s a conference-schedule game. It’s going to be a really tough environment on the road, which sounds like a broken record, because the last one we were talking about was a tough environment on the road. And win or lose, the next one’s going to be really hard, and the next one’s going to be really hard, and the next one’s going to be really hard. They all are hard. And in our league, in our conference, you see it every week. It’s tough, it’s physical, so we’ve got to have a great week of preparation. They got a tremendous team, nothing but respect for Kalen DeBoer and what he’s done with that team and that staff. I think he’s done a great job of putting them in a position to grow and get better, and they’ve gotten better with each game. So we need to do the same this week.”
